Processes where reactants are contacted with solid materials, such as catalyst particles, to produce single phase or mixed phase (e.g., gas and liquid) products are commonly used throughout the chemical industry. For example, lower oxygenates such as methanol and dimethyl ether (DME) may be contacted with a molecular sieve catalyst (e.g., a zeolite) and undergo a conversion reaction to produce hydrocarbons. Such methanol conversion processes are known and have become of great interest because they offer an attractive way of producing liquid hydrocarbon fuels, especially gasoline, from sources which are not petrochemical feeds. In particular, they provide a way by which methanol and DME can be converted to gasoline boiling components, olefins and aromatics in good yields. Olefins and aromatics are valuable chemical products and can serve as feeds for the production of numerous important chemicals and polymers. Additionally, olefins may be contacted with a molecular sieve catalyst and be oligomerized to a hydrocarbon product, such as a distillate. Because of the limited supply of competitive petroleum feeds, the opportunities to produce low cost olefins from petroleum feeds are limited. However, methanol may be readily obtained from coal by gasification to synthesis gas and conversion of the synthesis gas to methanol by well-established industrial processes. As an alternative, the methanol may be obtained from natural gas or biomass by other conventional processes.
Deactivation of the catalyst during such processes is a major issue. Typically, the catalyst undergoes a regeneration process to restore its activity. However, some of the catalyst activity may not be restored during regeneration causing irreversible catalyst deactivation, which leads to a shorter cycle life of the catalyst as well as reduced product yield. While utilizing a moving catalyst bed reactor may reduce irreversible catalyst deactivation and provide a longer catalyst cycle life and higher product yield, stripping of the process fluid from the solid catalyst is critical in achieving such benefits. U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,313,548; 8,083,824; 8,070,846; and 7,988,756 describe processes and devices for gas-solid separation of gas phase products from solid catalyst particles. However, processes, such as the methanol and olefin conversion processes described above, may have single phase or mixed phase (e.g., gas and liquid) reactants and products; thus, requiring separation of gases and liquids from solids (e.g., catalyst particles). Therefore, there is a need to provide systems and processes that can provide multiphase separation of process fluid (i.e., gases and liquids) from solids, such as catalyst particles.